Idea for "giving back" to loyal customers?

uix_expanduix_collapse

Member

If you own a small shop like a mini grocery... how can you "give back" to your customers?

I have an idea of offering a membership card that will turn points into dollars but a system for that might cost a big amount of cash. so what do you guys think that can help a small business shop in terms of offering a little something to their loyal customers?

uix_expanduix_collapse

Member

I don't see any reason why membership cards have to cost big bucks... Just go to vistaprint or some company like that, print out a few thousand business cards that you can stamp each time they visit (and purchase more than $10 or whatever you want). After the card is full they can redeem it for something.

You don't need a whole magnetic scanner system or RFID, just keep it simple. Personally, I'd just put a banner up somewhere (and actually do it of course) saying something like "Giving 5% of pre-tax income back to the community schools". It's what Target does (they are a rather large retailer in the United States) they get a good name for it, and you don't have to mess with a rewards system.

uix_expanduix_collapse

New Member

If you own a small shop like a mini grocery... how can you "give back" to your customers?

I have an idea of offering a membership card that will turn points into dollars but a system for that might cost a big amount of cash. so what do you guys think that can help a small business shop in terms of offering a little something to their loyal customers?

Click to expand...

I avoid big grocery stores when I can and go to the smaller ones so that I don't have to use the membership cards. The reason is that I hate their fake sales and I know the memberships are just to track what I'm purchasing. I think if you had a much simpler system it would be popular. For example give a whole punch or stamp for every $20 spent with prizes or incentives for every $100 and $1000 spent. Maybe a free sandwich at $100 and a raffle for an ipad at $1000?

uix_expanduix_collapse

Member

If you own a small shop like a mini grocery... how can you "give back" to your customers?

I have an idea of offering a membership card that will turn points into dollars but a system for that might cost a big amount of cash. so what do you guys think that can help a small business shop in terms of offering a little something to their loyal customers?

Click to expand...

Your idea is pretty good, however there is set back as well, especially not everyone wants to exchange money with point if they are not big spender.
Try to use other marketing tricks such as midnight sale or bonus reward for those shope in certain amounts.

uix_expanduix_collapse

Member

Loyal means regular customers right? So why not try to give some grocery package on your most loyal customers, let say they have to collect the receipts for a month and the shopper who has the most receipts will receive a grocery package.

uix_expanduix_collapse

Member

I used to frequent a local tavern a lot when I was in my twenties. When you stopped in for a beer or whatever, you could sign a book that proved you had been there on that day. You also paid fifty cents into the prize jar. Every Sunday the owner of the tavern would draw a name out of a jar that had every regular customer’s name on it. If you were signed in that week, then you would win however much money was in the pot. Sometimes there was only fifty dollars in there, but other times there would be a couple hundred. I thought it was a great way to remind people to stop in for one and sign in while you are at it.

You could do the same thing, but do it with groceries. You could get the names, addresses and telephone numbers of all your regular weekly customers. Then have them sign the book every week when they come in. Once per week, draw a random name from a jar. Whichever name you pull wins a bag of groceries you picked out for that week. If the person has not signed in, then you add more groceries to the prize for the following week. You will have situations where you might have several weeks pass without a winner. Then the prizes really build up and people start telling each other about it. Hang a sign near your cash register that shows who won last week.

The other advantage of doing this is that it helps you to get to know your local customers better. The better relationship you have with your regular customers, the more loyal they will become to you.
It is a great way to reward your customers just for stopping in to buy something once per week.

uix_expanduix_collapse

Member

Another thing. You can give them some bonus whenever they reach a certain amount of groceries they buy. Here in the Philippines, There are convenient stores offer a ticket for a raffle draw when you purchase every P1,000 amount of items. They will give you a raffle ticket and they will include you to weekly draws.

This is quite the same idea as Ted gave. The only difference is that you have to reach a certain amount of money. There are some that automatically give you a chance to play a raffle draw every time to purchase a certain amount of item and you can win a prize in the same day.

For your grocery store, you can apply this thing also. This is a great customer bait especially for small grocery stores because whenever they reach a certain amount that is close to the required one, chances are big that they will just get some new items to get a chance for a raffle draw.

uix_expanduix_collapse

Member

I do love the idea of using raffles for rewards. Sounds pretty easy compare to having a system for points. I also like the using of stamp for every purchase. I could make use of both idea you guys have shared. Thanks!

About Us

Business Advice Forum is a very active, friendly webmaster and business forum, where members can get advice and support for their small business or website. The majority of our discussions relate to online business, with the majority of the members being webmasters.